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Posted February 19, 2014 10:48 pm - Updated January 22, 2016 02:43 pm

Letters to the Editor Thursday

On April 25 last year, the Savannah Sand Gnats defeated the Delmarva Shorebirds 7-2. Gabriel Ynoa (who would go on to win the Trautman/SAL Player of the Year) earned the victory in front of 2,797 fans that Thursday night.

For me, the game had much more significance than just another win in what would become the Sand Gnats’ championship season of 2013. This night would be my 3-and-a-half-week-old son Brandon’s first baseball game.

My story is just one of the countless stories that are made every year at Historic Grayson Stadium. Our ballpark, however, has become antiquated and it continues to deteriorate.

It is time to move forward, Savannah. We have a unique opportunity to ensure baseball is enjoyed by generations to come, and to keep the feel-good stories coming every year.

Currently, there are few family-friendly activities after dark in the Historic District. Building a ballpark in the area will transform perceptions of downtown and families will have a reason to come to Savannah at night from Tybee Island, Richmond Hill, Pooler and all over the Lowcountry. This would help keep the money in our area and not go to some other far off city or another state entirely.

The empty Savannah River Landing site is an eyesore. Building a ballpark on the site would create construction jobs, full-time jobs and part-time jobs. It would attract other businesses to the area, which would mean more tax dollars for the city.

If the Gnats leave, this goes far beyond just the loss of a team. This is a tear in our community fiber. The Sand Gnats organization is heavily engaged in our community year-round and they support children, education, local charities and a host of worthy causes.

Are we prepared to lose this impact on our community?

The fact is we all lose if there is no new ballpark.

We lose our team. Local vendors lose business contracts with the Sand Gnats. We lose the economic development possibilities created by a new ballpark. More importantly, our future generations, like my son Brandon, lose.

Save our Sand Gnats. Remember: This is our team. Savannah’s team.

SCOTT KLOSE

Savannah

Millions for money pits, none for the needy

I read in the Feb. 17 paper that the city paid $1.6 million for property (on Waters Avenue) that they now cannot use, nor sell, plus they have plowed another $326,000 into the project to upgrade the parking lot and $319,500 for streetscape improvements.

On the same page (10-A), I read that the city gives Inner City Night Shelter $17,000 per year, a paltry amount that was threatened last year due to budget cuts (thankfully, ultimately reinstated).

This information is saddening to me.

It seems so wrong on a humanitarian level that the city is spending almost $2 million on land, buildings, parking lots and street beautification, when people are sleeping under bridges, in tent cities and an organization like Inner City Night Shelter is struggling financially to be able to help the neediest in our community.

Why does it seem that people when they get into a position of power and have the ability to make the world a better place for fellow human beings, they make sure poor choices about where they spend the peoples’ money?

It is disheartening. I can only imagine how it must make people like Yvonne Pryor and those dedicated to helping the homeless feel when they have to beg and plead for $17,000, yet they see millions being thrown at projects that are nothing but money pits.

SUE CHAPMAN ROHLFS

Savannah

Obama blamed Bush, but he’s a lot worse

President Obama is a 5-star liar, hypocrite and political incompetent. He has proven to be the master of meaningless chatter.

Almost everything he blamed President Bush for, he is doing exactly the same thing, but much, much worse.

In 2008, while running for president, Obama said Bush’s power grab through executive orders and acting unilaterally without Congress was unconstitutional. Obama said as a constitutional professor he respected the Constitution, and, if elected, he would honor and uphold the Constitution. Really?

Regarding Obamacare alone, he has unilaterally bypassed Congress 29 times. He said in his State of the Union address that he had a pen and a phone; if Congress would not do what he wanted them to do, he would bypass them. Of course, this is completely unconstitutional and represents impeachable offenses.

It is obvious that Obama did not take his oath of office to defend and uphold the Constitution very seriously. I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican.

In fact, I have no use for either party, but when you consider the scandals, the incompetence, and the abuses of power that have occurred under this pathetic administration, if Obama had an “R” by his name, the lame-stream media would be persecuting him without mercy.

Instead, they mollycoddle him and are accomplices in describing his words and actions.

MICHAEL FAULK

Jesup

Judges trust Skutch to ‘get the story right’

Congratulations to Jan Skutch, who was named Employee of the Year by the Savannah Morning News.

This outstanding reporter has the trust of court staff to get the story right, the integrity to live by his word, the wisdom to sift the wheat from the chaff and the determination to discover the facts that the public has the right to know.

When we consider the First Amendment and its role in protecting citizens from abuses and ignorance, we are blessed in this area that Mr. Skutch has been entrusted with that awesome responsibility.

JOHN BEAM, Jr.

Senior Judge

Chatham County Juvenile Court

Savannah

Liberals can’t accept successful black men

For years, I thought the person most despised by liberals was a successful white male, mostly self-made.

I have changed my mind, thanks to recent comments by liberals such as State Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Ala.

It seems as though successful black men, such as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Dr. Ben Carson, are now in first place for ridicule by the liberal do-nothings.